Broken Journey

A mismatched group of people (the singer, the movie star and her boyfriend, the man in the iron lung and his nurse, a refugee, etc) are passengers on a plane which makes an emergency landing on a glacier. Miles from anywhere and with the radio out, theirs is a bitter tale of survival which does not necessarily end happily ever after.

Wonderful movie, beautifully shot and with some wonderful acting by Phyllis Calvert and Sonia Holm, as well as David Tomlinson who hits on every girl he can find! An easy 10/10.

A small plane crash lands in the snowy, desolate Alps. Luckily, the mostly British passengers and crew survive with nary a scratch. They don't even seem to mind the cold very much. Her fur coat keeps movie star Margot Grahame (as Joanna Dane) warm. But the lack of cigarettes, lipstick and record albums gets some passengers testy. Operatic voiced Francis L. Sullivan (as Perami) plays his surviving vinyl. How to get civilization to notice and rescue them becomes a major concern. Survival and self-sacrifice are themes. These are nicely evidenced by "iron lung" man Grey Blake (as John Barber). Pretty stewardess Phyllis Calvert (as Mary Johnstone) falls in love with heroic pilot James Donald (as Bill Haverton). Their "Broken Journey" is slow and uninvolved, but nicely edited.

***** Broken Journey (4/14/48) Ken Annakin ~ Phyllis Calvert, Margot Grahame, James Donald, Francis L. Sullivan

An airplane flying over the Alps has engine trouble and has to land on a glacier. The radio is busted, so they can't tell folks where they are. The passengers and crew try to survive with dwindling supplies and little chance of being found. A fairly typical disaster film scenario where a cast of colourful characters including an actress, a boxer, an opera singer and a man in an iron lung face a crisis. The cast of British character actors unsurprisingly do a fairly good job with the formula.

Enjoyable retread of an archetypal situation generally traced back to 'Five Came Back' in 1939 and best known these days for 'The Flight of the Phoenix'. The British stiff upper lip isn't much in evidence as this lot squabble amongst each other on top of a mountain on which they've crashed in the Alps, which makes an interesting change. (Top-billed Phyllis Calvert also wears her hair far longer and looser in the early scenes than one is used to seeing air hostesses in the movies.)

Very enjoyable and hilarious in places, although I'm not sure if that was always intentional!